![]() Before I move on to sound impressions, let’s unbox this bad-boy and see what’s inside.Īquarius came in the mothership of all boxes I was already expecting a heavier unit, but seriously now, there aren’t small and lightweight R2R ladder DACs due to their complicated layout and number of internal components. Musician Aquarius goes for $2899 so far this is their statement unit, so I’ll prepare an in-depth look for it. In some ways, Aquarius has an unlimited potential and I can’t wait to tell you more about it. This is overkill in every possible way, spotting an outstanding power supply design, the best-in-class audio-grade capacitors, high-precision femto-second clocks, two FPGA chips and for the first time: Four R-2R ladders in a fully-balanced configuration using only hand-picked and highest grade 0.005% precision resistors. With Aquarius, this team wanted to express their genius, crafting a high-quality converter with the best components they had on their hands. But today…is a much cooler day, as I will be testing their best of the best, their Magnus Opus and crème de la crème. At this very moment, Musician Draco is the most affordable true R-2R ladder DAC there is, with balanced and single-ended outputs, equipped with every possible digital input, there is nothing that is competing with it at only $685 and I mean it. One year later, they added not one, but two additional converters in their portfolio, challenging the notion of entry-level one last time and firing alarming shots into the high-end R2R crowd. I say only because with R2R, that is actually an entry-level price. Their first-born Pegasus R-2R ladder DAC seriously impressed me with its clever component selection, good power supply implementation, high-quality resistors and outstanding sonics at only $1100. When Musician Audio came into existence last year, they wanted to completely alter that formula, bend to their will a decades long wrong preconception and I truly believe they succeeded. The biggest problem is that a high-quality R-2R unit with little to no compromises starts at around $3000 and everything below that point, seriously lacks precision and resolution. ![]() There is almost something for every pocket. There are plenty of R2R DAC manufacturers today, from affordable units like Audio-GD, MHDT Labs, Schiit Audio, Denafrips, Metrum, Border Patrol and Soekris, to mid-level devices like Holo Audio, CAD, LessLoss, TotalDAC, Lampizator, Mojo Audio and then to high-end units like Rockna, MSB Audio, Aries Cerat, Audio Note, CH Precision and others. There is something that is unmeasurable even by the world’s best Audio Analyzers and I can’t put my finger on it. Don’t get me started with piano or cymbals, those are hard to be replicated with such devices and it’s a child’s play with R-2R units. While chip-based delta-sigma and FPGA software-defined DACs already caught and sometimes surpassed the resolution and dynamic range of R-2R DACs, they never could replicate their long-lasting aroma, natural textures, smooth decays, beautiful overtones and simpler things like reproducing the pitch of the human voice. I’m fascinated by all those technologies and that is the reason I will always have at least an FPGA multibit, delta-sigma and an R-2R ladder DAC in my house no matter what. When transistors came to conquer the world, they wanted to replace vacuum-tubes for the same reason…but did they actually succeed in approaching or surpassing their masters? There isn’t an easy answer… for some it’s a strong Yes, for others it’s solid No. When delta-sigma D/A converters came into existence, they wanted to replicate the sound of well-thought R-2R ladder DACs at a fraction of the cost. ![]() That deep, velvety smooth, indulgently sweet aroma reminiscent of French patisserie and a long-lasting aftertaste can’t be confused with your average $10 bottle of whisky. Ah…the sound of a high-quality R2R DAC after a sea of chip-based Delta-Sigma converters feels like tasting an aged single malt whiskey for the first time.
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